Doctor Who Delayed - Next Year's Series Won't Start Until The Autumn

It’s been confirmed by the good burghers at Doctor Who magazine that the next series, usually counted as the seventh, won’t start airing on the BBC until Autumn 2012. We’ve reported on this before, but seeing as the magazine has very close ties to the show and sometimes serves as a semi-official mouthpiece, their reporting on the schedule has finally set it in stone.

In theory, all thirteen episodes could run right the way up to Christmas in an unbroken streak but it at least feels more likely that this year’s split strategy will come into play again. I’m expecting we’ll see six or seven episodes in the Autumn, with the remaining seven or six held back until the start of 2013.

It’s probably safe to assume that there will still be a Christmas special at the end of 2012, sticking out in the middle of the run. This appears to mean that filming for the Christmas special would have to take place in amongst the filming for the series proper. It’s not impossible the BBC would skip it, or reduce the episode count for the series by one in order to accomodate it.

But will we really go all the way from this Christmas day, right up until the start of series seven without seeing hide nor hair of the Doctor?

That seems like too long of a break to me. I’d guess that an Easter Special is a possibility, if not a likelihood. That’s the next announcement I’ll be looking for.

2013 is the 50th anniversary of the show, and Steven Moffat has promised that something special is planned.

Special what we have no idea, and there’s no clue either if it will involve the second half of series seven or episodes screened later in the year – or both.

In the absence of my own personal TARDIS, I guess I’m just going to have to be patient.